Beautiful Heart
by MagicGirl41
Summary: After Akito releases them, the now free zodiac follow her into the garden. What will they find? A one shot that was inspired by the sad and deep character that is Sohma Akito. R&R please!


**This is going to be a strange little fanfiction, because I didn't have the story, this whole thing was in my head in manga form, in the way that ****Natsuki Takaya**** does her beautiful inner-character-ness. But I'll try my best!**

**...also, don't forget to press that lovely blue button at the bottom. It really does mean the world to me ;)**

**All credit for **_**Fruits Basket**_** and its characters goes to the amazing Natsuki Takaya. I wish I could create manga like she does.**

"I... still will keep living as a Sohma. I think there are things that should be done. Even with this I'm the leader of the main house therefore... Therefore, one other person, I must speak with Ren also. I have broken the curse. Be free." Akito got up and walked outside, to the garden. The rest of the zodiac were left speechless.

" I feel like... I've just seen the real Akito for the first time." The rest nodded with Kyo's statement. Shigure was silent. As in if a silent agreement, they followed Akito.

She was sobbing. Sobbing and screaming at the same time, digging up clumps of earth with her fingernails. Her anguish swept through the zodiac, and, although the curse had been broken, they felt her pain as if it was their own.

"How..." Yuki's question was broken by a wave of pain. It was Shigure who answered.

"This is not our power. It's her power. The power of the god." Suddenly, images, memories mixed with illusions, generated by Akito, came into the zodiac's own heads, along with her pain.

"_Dirty, worthless girl!"_

"_You are stained, broken. Who will want you?"_

There was Akito, the old one, on the ground. She was in her own world of darkness. She clutched her head, crying out in pain. Ren appeared in front of her.

"They will never love you! You are to be hated forever! That is the curse of god!"

_It hurts._

"_Akito... you are special. You are at the head of the feast, and everyone will love you. You are born to be loved."_

_Father..._

"_They will all leave you!"_

_Lies... father said they would all love me._

The Akito on the ground, alone again, grasped her head and reeled up, screaming.

_Little Akito blushes as Shigure walks into the room and eyes him shyly..._

Shigure is walking away from her, into the dark as her outreached hand grasps air...

"_They will never leave you."_

Black feathers explode around Kureno, as he is released, and Akito tries to hold onto him, but he slips away. She locks him in chains to keep him from going...

"_Let's start over, from the beginning. Hi, I'm Tohru. I want to be your friend!"_

Akito reaches for the outstretched hand, but it is suddenly moving away, as the cliff crumbles from beneath Tohru's feet...

_Akito is much younger now. She loves to play outside, as much as mother will allow. Even though she is dressed in boy's clothes, her eyes are bright and innocent. Through the hedge, she watches other kids come home, laughing. All of her cousins are still babies, and the ones that aren't rarely visit. She runs inside..._

"_Mommy?"_

"_What?" The answer is sharp and cold, as always._

"_Why can't I go to school?" Akito recognizes her mistake as soon as the words are out of her mouth. Her mother's eyes are angry now._

"_School?! What for? Oh, I see. You want friends, now don't you. Well you are not to step foot out of this house. That is the curse of the god! Come." Frightened, the child follows her mother into a dark part of the house, where she never goes. Her mother stops in front of a room with no windows._

"_W-what is this?"_

"_This is the room where the cat goes. The cat is less than us. He serves as a being that even we are not as bad off as."_

"_But that's not rig-"_

"_-shut up and get inside." Akito's eyes grow wide with fear._

"_I-in-s-side? W-why?"  
"Because, just like the cat, you are dirty, unloved, an outcast. You'd better get used to it." The child cried out, but she was kicked by her mother into the room. Tears ran down her face as she tried to struggle back outside._

"_Mommy! P-please! Please! PLEASE!" The door slammed shut and only darkness was left._

"_Unloved..."_

"_Dirty."_

Akito was still crying, the tears staining her sweatshirt, her cropped hair falling jaggedly around her face.

"_I won't accept it unless it's a boy."_

"_Yes, Ren-sama."_

As the Akito in the darkness screamed, another image came up. A memory.

With every hit, Akito's anger and fear only grew worse. _LOVE_ _Hatsuharu? NO! You will not take him away from me! H-he has to love me! H-he can't leave!_ Rin was thrown backward into the wall. In a fit of blind rage, Akito grabbed her hair and finished the job. As Rin fell, her long jet black hair flowing around her, horror and guilt gripped Akito with a force strong enough that she wanted to hurl, except her eyes were as cold as her mother's.

"_When I thought I had you in hand, you fluttered away, flying to new people." Shigure's face was dark and filled with brokenness._

"_Betrayer."_

_Yes, my heart is dark and evil._

"_They will all leave you!"_

With every chain, every scar Akito placed on the zodiac, she tried to keep them closer. But she didn't sleep any better.

"Please... it hurts... PLEASE!" Another scream, and a tidal wave of anguished, roaring pain, and they were back. As they looked at each other, they all received similar looks of shock and pain. But all eyes eventually fell on Shigure, who was still looking at Akito, but his expression was different from the rest. His expression was inexpressible pain and deep, incredible love. In three strides he was at her side, kneeling beside her, holding her in his arms. She clutched his shirt and sobbed into his chest. Another flash of memories swept through the zodiac.

"_Hurt. Pain. Alone. Dark. Help! Help me, I'm drowning!"_

"_I was jealous of you because your heart is so much more beautiful than I am."_

"_I am... not "beautiful". Please do not split and separate things based on something like "beauty" then distance yourself... If you say that I am beautiful, then you are also beautiful. Crying... about how lonely and scared you were... it was nearly painful, how innocent and pure you were... I was someone who tried to break apart that world you were hoping for. It doesn't matter if it was right or wrong, it doesn't change the fact that you were hurt so badly. But.. still, I want to be friends with you."_

"_You are stubborn."_

And suddenly, the darkness of Akito's world was washed away, replaced by a blinding light. Akito slowly took her hands off her head, and looked up. Standing in front of her was Tohru, hand outstretched, laughing. Shakily, Akito put her hand in Tohru's, who pulled her to her feet and began to run, dragging Akito along. Slowly, as they ran, shapes began to appear on the horizon. The shapes became people, all waving, waiting for them to come. As they reached the group of people, Akito looked up at them. They were the zodiac, all smiling at her. And Shigure was at the front, his eyes full of love, just for her. She ran to him, tripping and stumbling, and threw herself into his arms, sobbing, but not with sorrow, with joy. He patted her head.

"You've been through a lot of hurt and pain. But you've done well. I knew you could do it." He smiled. "And your heart, my most lovely Akito, is _the_ most beautiful heart in the world."


End file.
